Together, or Not At All
by The End of Always
Summary: A BoFA fic where Fili dies first. He dies as he lived - protecting his little brother. How could Kili possibly live on without his other half?
1. Our Final Stand

Kili was too busy fighting a warg to see the group of orcs sneaking up behind them, but Fili saw them. Fili always saw anything before it could hurt his little brother. He decapitated the orc he had been fighting before and started hacking his way towards Kili.

Even as he sprinted through the battle, slipping on the blood-soaked grass, Fili knew he couldn't possibly make it in time.  
"KILI!" Fili knew it was useless – he was too far away. Kili couldn't hear him, couldn't see him. Fili ran even faster, slashing at anything that got in his way. His only instinct was to protect Kili, as it had been every day since he had first held his baby brother.

The orcs were almost upon Kili, who still hadn't seen them. Fili desperately hoped he could make it in time. The first orc was just pulling back its sword to strike when Fili threw himself between it and Kili.

There was a sickening crunch, and suddenly Fili couldn't feel anything but white-hot pain. It was in his veins, filling his mind, leaving nothing but agony. He looked down as the orc yanked its sword out of Fili's chest. Blood spurted from the wound, and Fili sank to his knees without a sound. He would have screamed, but he couldn't breathe.

"Kili," he manged to gasp out as the orc raised its sword for a killing strike.

Somehow, miraculously, Kili heard. He whirled around and screamed in rage and terror when he saw Fili on his knees. The orcs were dead within seconds – nothing could defeat Kili's love for his brother.

Kili knelt next to Fili and caught him as he slumped forward. Blood trickled down his chin, and his breathing was harsh and uneven.

"Fee, no, you can't die! You promised you'd never leave me! Fee, please. Please be okay." Fili tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace of pain.

"S'okay, Kee. I'm okay." Kili choked on a sob, trying to hold in the tears filling his eyes. Fili wasn't okay. Fili was dying. His older brother, who had been by his side since the day he was born, was dying. He couldn't live without his brother.

Fortunately, he wouldn't have to.

"Oh." Kili gasped as the first arrow pierced his shoulder, then winced as another arrow pierced his abdomen. The arrow went straight through, its arrowhead sticking out the front of Kili's armor. Another arrow pierced him, and Kili crumpled to the ground next to his brother.

"Kee…no." Fili could barely speak, for the darkness was closing in on him.

"I love you, Fee," Kili whispered, propping himself up on one elbow painfully. His face was the last thing Fili saw. Fili smiled and closed his eyes, and was gone.

Kili laid his head down on Fili's chest, like he used to do when he had nightmares. He would sneak into Fili's room and crawl into bed with him and let his brother's steady heartbeat soothe his fear. But now there was no heartbeat. Fili was gone. He was already starting to go cold. Kili's body was racked with painful sobs, each one jolting the arrows embedded in his flesh, causing them to rip apart his insides a little bit more.

"Wait for me, brother. I'm coming, Fee." Kili's eyes slid closed, his face buried in Fili's shoulder, and let his older brother comfort him one last time. As the darkness took him, Kili's last thought was of Fili.

So fell the last of the Line of Durin. They would be found later, still together, looking for all the world like the children they once were, safe and asleep in each other's arms. Legends would be told until the end of days about the two brothers who fought together until the end – the lion of Durin's line, and the reckless archer whose courage never failed him. They were not forgotten, for Gandalf spread their story far and wide throughout Middle Earth, and one day, far in the future, on a different quest, Gandalf told their story to two young hobbits, Merry and Pippin, who made him remember the two young dwarves he had led to their end. But at least he knew they were together. That was how they would have wanted it. Together, or not at all.


	2. Epilogue - Many Years Later

Pippin stopped singing when he noticed Gandalf staring at he and Merry. The wizard looked like he had seen a ghost.  
"Come on, Pip!" Merry's annoyed whisper brought Pippin back to the present. He picked up where he had left off in the song, making a mental note to ask Gandalf about the incident later.  
Gandalf sighed wearily. Whenever he looked at the two rambunctious hobbits, all he could see was two young dwarves he had once known. Fili and Kili, the last of Durin's line. It had been many years since they had fallen in the Battle of Five Armies, but Gandalf had never forgiven himself. He had led those two innocent brothers on the Quest that had claimed their lives.  
"What's wrong, Gandalf? Earlier you looked like you'd seen something strange, and now you're being very quiet." Gandalf harrumphed. Peregrin Took may have been a fool, but he was also unusually insightful when it came to human nature.  
"You and Merry just reminded me of someone I knew once. But you don't want to hear an old wizard's stories, surely."  
Merry wandered over at that point, lured by the promise of another of Gandalf's tales. "We most certainly do want to hear it, don't we, Pip?" Pippin nodded vigorously in agreement. Gandalf sighed again.  
"Very well, but I warn you, it is not a happy tale. You see, this is not the first Quest I have led. Oh there have been many, but one I remember very clearly. You may have heard tales of Erebor, and of the adventure Bilbo Baggins undertook to help Thorin Oakenshield reclaim it. Well on that Quest there were two young dwarves, very much like you two. Fili and Kili were their names. They were Thorin's nephews, and Fili, the eldest, was his heir. Now I'm certain you've heard stories of the battle that raged after the fearsome dragon Smaug was defeated. The Battle of Five Armies, they call it now. In that battle, Thorin Oakenshield was wounded by his oldest enemy, Azog the Defiler. An Orc. Fili and Kili rushed to their uncle's defense, and protected him until Beorn came to carry him away. However, all the orcs wanted to kill Thorin, so Fili and Kili were vastly outnumbered. I was too late. I couldn't save them. By the time Balin found them after the battle was over, they were both gone. I've told their story many times, but not in recent years. You two are so much like them. What if I fail you like I failed them?" Gandalf fell silent, resting his head in his hands to hide his tears.  
The two young hobbits wrapped their arms around Gandalf, tears filling their eyes as well. "We'll be all right, Gandalf. We promise."  
Gandalf sat up and composed himself. "You hobbits never cease to amaze me. I shall see that no harm comes to you. Not this time. I've lost enough friends." Gandalf smiled sadly at Merry and Pippin, who smiled brightly back. Gandalf could still see Fili's rare but bright smiles and Kili's reckless grin inside his head. "At least they were together," he mused aloud. "They wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Those two were so close, so connected, that if one had lived he couldn't possibly have gone on without the other."  
"What were they like, Gandalf?" Merry was curious to hear more about the dwarves that were so like he and Pippin, though he hoped they wouldn't meet the same tragic end.  
"Fili was like a lion - fierce and majestic and golden. He loved his brother more than anyone else in the world. He would have died to protect Kili. I suppose he did, in the end. Kili was always more reckless - that dwarf had no fear. He was as good with a bow as most elves, and he followed his brother in everything. They were inseparable."  
"I think we would have been friends," Pippin mused.  
"Yes Pippin, I expect you would have been. I expect so. Anyway, it's late now, and we shouldn't dwell too long on the past. After all, you two are part of a different Quest. Off to bed now, both of you. We have a long way to travel tomorrow."

That night, Pippin dreamed of a golden dwarf who fought like a lion to protect his brave, if unconventional, brother.


End file.
